Canes Earn First Win With 4-2 Victory Over Flames

There is an old saying, “things are not as bad as they might seem.” Such has been the case for the Carolina Hurricanes this early season.

After blowing two, 3-0 leads in their first two games and then falling behind 3-0 to Edmonton, the Canes once again jumped to a 3-0 lead in Calgary but eventually hung on to win this one, 4-2 against the Flames on Thursday night.

The win gives the Carolina team a 1-1-2 record in their first four games.

Eddie Lack went the distance and made 24 saves on 26 shots.

Teuvo Teravainen got things started with his second goal of the season when he scored in close off of a nice feed by Noah Hanifin. Sebastian Aho connected with Hanifin to set the play up.

Hanifin now has four assists in four games while Aho has contributed three.

Then Victor Rask made a very pretty play when he cut across the middle just as a 5-on-3 advantage was ending and rifled in a shot which beat Brian Elliott. Rask has looked very good at both ends of the ice and now has five points (3G 2A) in four games, which is tied for the team’s lead.

The Canes held a 2-0 lead into the second period but did not stop there. Newly acquired Klas Dahlbeck made a perfect stretch pass to Viktor Stalberg and the former Ranger made no mistake as he scored his first of the season.

Stalberg played his best game as a Cane and was awarded the “victory belt” after the game.

Later in the period, a turnover at center ice turned into a Calgary goal and it was nervous time for those who follow Carolina.

In the third, Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau scored to make it 3-2 and the Canes bench might have started to worry. But Jeff Skinner would score late in the period, as they took advantage of another powerplay, to seal the win. Elias Lindholm made the pretty pass to Skinner to set him up.

Speaking of powerplay, don’t look now but the Hurricanes are currently ranked fifth highest in the league at 31.3%. The kill is ranked even better at number four, (93.8%).

Next up will be a match with the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday night.